Aug 23 1965
From The Space Library
Astronauts Leroy Gordon Cooper (L/Col. USAF) and Charles Conrad, Jr. (LCdr., USN), carried two one-dollar bills during the GEMINI V mission to prove on landing that they were the same spacemen who were launched, UPI reported. A representative of the Fédération Aêronautique Internationale recorded the serial numbers on the bills before the launch and would check them after the landing. The Federation Aeronautique Internationale, with 54 member nations, is the agency that certifies world aviation and space records. (UPI, NYT, 8/25/65, 1)
It was too early to set a realistic date for man's landing on the moon, Mstislav V. Keldysh, President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, said during a Moscow press conference devoted to the ZOND III mission. He explained: "... we have ... learned quite a lot about the surface of the moon, Yet this does not seem to be a great deal.where the choice of a landing spot is concerned. . . . Our knowledge of the soil of the moon is still somewhat contradictory, and I think it is much too early to start looking for a future landing site , ." Yuri Khodarev, engineer in the Soviet space program, revealed that ZOND III had used photographic film instead of magnetic film to record pictures for later playback on earth command. The mission had been essentially a test in which the spacecraft would continue to play back the moon pictures repeatedly at increasingly greater distances up to "hundreds of millions of kilometers," Khodarev said, adding, "we have created a new, compact photo television system intended for photographing and transmission of images of planets under conditions of prolonged space flight." The wide-angle camera lens had a 106.4-mm, focal length at a relative aperture of 1:8. A 25-mm. film was used with exposures of 1/100th and 1/300th of a second. Describing the ZOND III television system, Khodarev said ZOND III had taken 25 photos of the far side of the moon in little more than an hour. Only one command had been given from earth-to start taking the photographs. All remaining operations occurred automatically. The ZOND III photographs confirmed earlier conclusions concerning the scarcity of dark depressions on the moon's reverse side, but also revealed sea-like formations up to 500 km. (310.5 mi,) across and about as long as the maria. These formations differed structurally from the maria and lacked their characteristic dark color. The northern part of the side of the moon was occupied by a bright elevation pitted with craters. Concentration of craters throughout the reverse side of the moon was high, Soviet astronomer Alla Masevich said the moon photographs were as good as those taken of the visible side from earth-based observatories: "They show beautiful half-tone transitions, reflecting the character of detailed surface relief," Alexander A. Mikhailov, director of the Pulkovo Observatory, attributed the observed difference between the moon's visible side and its reverse side to geological rather than astronomical factors, He noted the appearance on Zond photographs of chains of craters along elongated fracture lines which he attributed to volcanic activity. Prof. Keldyshnoted that the trajectory of ZOND III had passed far from the planets but said that "the experience we gained in launching this probe into remote space will be used in subsequent launchings to photograph the planets." He said the U.S.S.R. had already begun preparations to achieve a soft lunar landing. Experiments aboard the spacecraft were for study of magnetic fields, solar wind, low-frequency radio emission of the galaxy, micrometeors, cosmic rays, and the infrared and ultraviolet spectra of the lunar surface. (Tass, 8/23/65; Shabad, NYT, 8/24/65, 1)
ComSatCorp had selected Holmes and Narver, Inc., Los Angeles architectural and engineering firm, for design work on two new earth station sites in Hawaii and Washington-the U.S. ground links in a worldwide commercial communications satellite system. The contract provided for $186,000, plus additional costs for optional on-the-site construction supervision and related services. Detailed drawings and specifications would be supplied to ComSatCorp no later than December 1. (ComSatCorp Release)
West Germany and the U.S. would jointly develop a "jump-jet" fighter and reconnaissance aircraft to be battle-ready in the 1970's, West German Defense Military announced. Two West German and five U.S. aircraft companies had each been awarded $1-million contracts to produce the studies for the Vtol aircraft. A joint American-German group of companies would build the prototypes, Boeing Co., Lockheed Aircraft Corp, McDonnell Aircraft Corp, Republic Aviation Corp, and United Aircraft were the U.S. firms involved. (Reuters, NYT, 8/24/54, 3)
Seven Soviet An-24B airliners had been sold to the United Arab Republic, the New York Times reported. Details of the sale had not been officially disclosed, but European sources said that the cost of each plane was about $375,000-less than half the true value. (NYT, 8/24/65, 50M)
Dr. John Strong of Johns Hopkins Univ. told the Fifth Annual Space Conference at VPI that Venus was almost as hot on the side facing away from the sun as on the side facing the sun because the entire planet was kept warm by snowfalls. An instrumented balloon launched in 1964 had identified ice crystals in the Venusian atmosphere, Strong speculated that a 120-mph wind on the surface of the planet dragged the ice crystals around to the back side where they presumably became a "warming snowfall," Dr. Strong, who intended to launch another instrumented balloon during 1965, said that an automated, unmanned balloon was preferable to a manned vehicle. (AP, Wash, Post, 8/24/65)
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